


Familiarity

by suranas



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pre-Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 04:44:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6689773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suranas/pseuds/suranas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's cold out, and Butch does something nice for once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiarity

The wind was absolutely howling that night and the chill seeped down into Jade’s bones. Butch had made a small campfire earlier, but it wasn’t much help at this point. It was dying down rapidly despite the pair’s best efforts. Butch just shrugged, deciding it was pointless to keep trying. 

Small, glowing embers were all that remained after several minutes. Jade gazed at them, their light reflecting off of her eyes, as she tried to forget how cold she’d gotten. She’d really begun to wish she’d packed a jacket of some sort. Her vault suit and armor pieces weren’t exactly what one would call warm. She found herself shifting her gaze to Butch. He was clad in his usual leather jacket and seemed as though the cold didn’t bother him in the slightest. She envied him and quietly wished she was wearing his jacket instead, even if it did have that ridiculous logo on the back. 

Honestly, he was lucky she gave it back to him. Despite outwardly pretending that she was glad to be rid of it, she’d actually grown attached to it. It was her only piece of familiarity in the Wasteland and she’d come to rely on it for comfort. She scoffed at the thought. How ironic that something of Butch’s would bring her comfort. After all, he’d given her the opposite of it her whole life. 

Jade was so wrapped up in her thoughts she almost didn’t hear when Butch spoke to her. 

“You cold?” was all he asked. It was a rather inane question with an equally obvious answer. But the fact that he asked was something. 

Jade gave him an incredulous look before replying. “Obviously.”

“Hey, I was just asking. Don’t gotta be like that,” he turned his attention back towards the now nearly completely dead fire.

She thought about apologizing for a moment but before she could speak, he began to move closer to her. Moving slowly and a bit awkwardly, he stopped before he got too close. 

He cleared his throat before speaking in a low tone. “You could uh… you could wear my jacket if you want.”

For an instant she thought about teasing him, but she could tell it was hard for him to offer. She honestly couldn’t think of a reason that made sense for him to be acting this way. It was very out of character. Sure, he travelled with her, but that didn’t mean that all of the animosity between them had disappeared. 

“What about you?” she asked, her heart fluttering. Why would her heart flutter at a time like this?

“I’ll be alright. You look like you need it more than me anyways,” he shrugged and began to take off the jacket.

Once he’d pulled it off, he handed it to her and gave her a small smile causing her heart to flutter again. Again, she was confused as to why that was her body’s reaction. It couldn’t possibly mean she had feelings for him, of all people. Right? She attempted to shake the thought out of her head ad as she tugged the jacket on. Immediately, she began to feel warmer thanks to Butch’s lingering body heat. 

His all too familiar scent came with the new found warmth, something that brought her comfort. She nestled herself into the jacket, feeling content. It reminded her of the days she’d travel alone with only this dumb jacket to remind her of home and the people she left behind. She’d never tell Butch how thankful she was for him giving it to her all those months ago, so she’d settle for thanking him for this small gesture. 

“Thanks, Butch,” she said glancing over at him. 

He scooted back to his original position “Yeah, yeah don’t mention it.” Now, _that_ was more like him.


End file.
